COMING ATTRACTIONS

Nicole Kidman Announced Yet Another Book-to-TV Project

As part of her first-look deal with Amazon, Nicole Kidman is set to produce and star in Pretty Things, based on Janelle Brown’s suspense novel.


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ALASDAIR MCLELLAN

Does anyone love producing and starring in prestige television adaptations right now more than Nicole Kidman?

At this point, it is par for the course for streaming platforms like Hulu or Amazon to adapt trendy lit into series for their networks (just see Normal People or Little Fires Everywhere as the latest examples of a streaming giant participating in such a trend). And ever since Reese Witherspoon turned her Hello Sunshine book club into more than just a book club and started nabbing all the books-turned-into-television rights she could find, others in her orbit have followed suit, Kidman included.

Kidman’s production company, Blossom Films, is not unlike her Big Little Lies co-star’s Hello Sunshine. In 2018, Amazon and Kidman signed a first-look deal with Blossom Films, which includes film, television, and general digital content.

The latest update in Kidman’s TV roster is a project called Pretty Things, which will be directed by Reed Morano. Based on Janelle Brown’s novel of the same name (which has yet to be released, by the way), the series is about two brilliant women caught in a game of cat and mouse. Per an announcement from Deadline, the gist of the series is as follows: “When a reluctant grifter befriends a wealthy ‘influencer’ on the shores of Lake Tahoe, her ultimate con devolves into a raw, treacherous game of long-awaited payback.” In other words, it sounds like Killing Eve meets Dead to Me meets Ingrid Goes West.

Kidman will star and produce in Pretty Things. She could either play Nina, the con artist who partners with her Irish boyfriend Lachlan to steal from rich Angelenos, or Vanessa, the heiress with a hefty Instagram following. Or she could play Nina’s mother, who taught her how to hustle. It’s unclear as of right now which role the actress and producer will take.

She is also set to star in The Undoing on HBO alongside Hugh Grant, which has been pushed from its May release date to later in the fall, due to coronavirus-related post-production issues. Then she has The Expatriates, which she is also producing, alongside Lulu Wang, who will act as producer, writer and director of the series based on Janice Y.K. Lee’s novel.

So, Kidman really loves television, that much is true. And those wondering whether or not she’ll pivot back to the big screen anytime soon may find some solace in this: before Pretty Things, the most recent catch for Blossom Films and Amazon was the film rights to Samantha Downing’s suspenseful novel My Lovely Wife. For that one, though, there is no confirmation of whether or not Kidman is set to appear, but there’s always a chance she might.

Related: Nicole Kidman and Lulu Wang’s Collaboration Is Happening Right on Time